


It Was Nigh and He Didn't Even Know

by Reioka



Series: Girl Next Door [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, But mostly angst, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kid Fic, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 03:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reioka/pseuds/Reioka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles was eight and he’d seen the most beautiful girl in the world in his class that year. She had long strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes and she was super smart. She had all of her times tables up through fifty memorized and was already doing algebra. In her free time. Just for fun. She was also kind of mean, but he chocked it up to her being unused to him (which was par for the course at this point). It was looking like it would be an exciting school year. And then his mom got sick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Was Nigh and He Didn't Even Know

**Author's Note:**

> Shitty title is shitty and I apologize. (The end of his mother is nigh, get it, get it? *is shot*) Get ready to have your heart wrenched out of your chest, if I've written this correctly.  
> Also sorry if the description for driving stick-shift is terrible. I drive an automatic so I tried to read up on it, but it was kind of hard to wrap my head around without actually seeing it.

It Was Nigh and He Didn’t Even Know

 

Stiles was eight and he’d seen the most beautiful girl in the world in his class that year. She had long strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes and she was _super_ smart. She had all of her times tables up through fifty memorized and was already doing _algebra._ In her free time. _Just for fun._ She was also kind of mean, but he chocked it up to her being unused to him (which was par for the course at this point). It was looking like it would be an exciting school year. And then his mom got sick.

 

He and Scott were finally allowed to walk home by themselves on Tuesdays, even though they still had to stay with the Andersons because they couldn’t be trusted alone for twenty minutes after The Incident (that they didn’t talk about ever). Addie would come home and meet them twenty minutes later and then take them over to Stiles’s house. She took so many classes her sophomore year that she could get a free period at the end of the school day on Tuesdays so she didn’t have to get home so late, which they liked, because sometimes it was lonely without her.

 

That day, Stiles and Scott got to stay by themselves for ten whole minutes because Mrs. Anderson had to take Grandpa Jim to a doctor appointment. Addie took the bus that day, so she was a little later in getting home, but she brought donuts from the bakery on the way, so they didn’t mind.

 

Stiles was letting himself in the house when he heard a moan from the bathroom. He paused, checked the driveway for the jeep, and frowned. “Hello?”

 

“Stiles?”

 

Stiles took a step further inside, brows furrowing together in confusion. “Mom?”

 

“Your mom’s home? I didn’t see the jeep,” Addie murmured, pushing the door open further and looking around as Scott peeked in from around her.

 

Stiles moved toward the bathroom, where he’d heard his name being called. “Mom?” He pushed the door open and gasped in horror. “ _Mommy!_ ”

 

Addie appeared right behind him, drawn by his cry, and let out a short scream when she saw the woman curled up beside the toilet, bloody spittle dripping down her chin. “ _Mrs. Stilinski!_ ”

 

Claudia smiled weakly. “Hi, guys. Scott, Stiles, will you go get in the car? I parked it in the garage today.”

 

“But Mom—” Stiles began, tears filling his eyes, but Scott grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door.

 

“Come on, Stiles, let’s go get in the car. We’ll be more helpful out of the way.” He’d seen a man almost lose his arm because his hysterical wife wouldn’t let the doctors and nurses do their jobs, and he didn’t want to be the cause of anything bad happening to Stiles’s mom just because they were in the way.

 

Stiles took a deep breath, ready to throw a tantrum, but exhaled when Addie dropped all of her stuff and rushed into the bathroom to pull his mom’s arm over her shoulder. “Okay.”

 

Addie slid her arm around Claudia’s waist and helped pull her to her feet. “Do you need me to call an ambulance, Mrs. Stilinski?”

 

“No, no—it’s not too bad _—_ I—” Claudia grimaced as her stomach cramped up again. “ _Oh._ ”

 

“Mrs. Stilinski, what’s going on? What should I _do_?” the teenager asked helplessly, voice trembling.

 

Claudia took a deep breath even though it hurt. “Are the boys outside?”

 

“Yeah, they’re getting in the jeep.”

 

She took another deep, painful breath. “I have cancer, Madeline.”

 

Addie gasped, stopping in the doorway for her to catch her breath because she’d only gone a few steps and was already winded. “Mrs. Stilinski-!”

 

“Stiles and Scott don’t know,” Claudia continued, pressing a shaking hand to her stomach and groaning. “I was getting better, but—it spread, and the doctors didn’t catch it in time. I thought I could fight this too, but I’m just… so tired. I’m so tired, Addie. Just… just get me to the hospital and try to keep the boys occupied while I’m in there.”

 

“Okay. Okay,” Addie whispered, helping her limp to the garage. “Do you want me to call Mr. Stilinski?”

 

Claudia groaned again, squeezing her eyes shut at the thought. “Melissa’s working. She’ll probably call him. Don’t worry about it, Addie. Just make sure Stiles and Scott are okay.”

 

“Okay.” Addie led her over to the passenger side and helped her into the seat, even reaching in to buckle her seatbelt for her before circling around to the driver’s side. She slid in, buckled her seatbelt, and put her hands on the wheel, then let out a horrified squeak. “This is a stick shift.”

 

Scott and Stiles leaned together to look up at her from the middle of the back seat, concerned.

 

Addie let out a long, high-pitched noise that sounded suspiciously like a whine. “ _I don’t know how to drive stick shift!_ ”

 

Despite the pain she was in, Claudia had to laugh a little, even though it hurt her even more. “Oh my God.”

 

“DON’T LAUGH AT ME THIS IS SERIOUS!” Addie shouted, waving a hand wildly.

 

“Okay, okay, okay!” the woman wheezed, wiping a tear from her eye. “Okay, the first thing to do—” She watched Addie nod a little frantically, hands hovering over the wheel. “—Is not panic.”

 

Addie paused, brows furrowed together in confusion, before whipping toward her and shrieking, “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!”

 

Claudia started to laugh again, and this time Scott and Stiles giggled along with her, if a bit nervously. Addie didn’t curse often (and never did it in front of her grandparents), but when she did, it was usually because she was too frustrated to care, and it was always funny.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that’s actually the first thing they’ll tell you in any class you take,” Claudia wheezed, still grinning. “Calm down.”

 

“I’M CALM!” Addie shouted, glaring at her, then turned back to the wheel, pouting a little.

 

Stiles leaned over to Scott and whispered, “She doesn’t sound calm.”

 

“Shut up! I’m trying to learn how to drive a stick!” the teen hissed, glaring at them, then moaned in terror and sank in her seat. “I’m going to ruin your transmission. Your gears will never forgive me.”

 

“It’s okay, Addie.” Claudia reached over to pat her hand, hissed in pain, then took a deep breath. “Okay. Turn the car on, depress the clutch, put it in gear, and ease _onto_ the gas while easing _off_ of the clutch.”

 

“Turn on the car.” She turned the key. “Depress the clutch.” Her left foot hesitantly tapped onto the clutch, then pushed. “Put the car in… gear?” Her fingers hovered over the gear shift before sliding it into first gear. “Ease onto the gas and off the clutch.”

 

“Okay, now put it into second gear. Push the clutch all the way down again.”

 

“Okay.” Addie pushed the clutch down again and shifted into second gear. The car immediately lurched forward out of the garage. She screamed as the car jolted forward and slammed on the brakes. “OH MY GOD!” The car stalled out and died.

 

Claudia started laughing again. “Oh, Addie!”

 

Addie slammed her fists onto the steering wheel in frustration. “Oh you rusty can of shit!”

 

“Don’t talk about Mom’s jeep that way!” Stiles shouted, horrified. “It’s not Roscoe’s fault!”

 

“I was talking about me!” she wailed, then covered her face in embarrassment. “I can’t do this.”

 

“Yes, you can,” Claudia soothed, one hand drifting to her stomach and digging into the fabric of her shirt tightly. “Come on. Let’s try again.”

 

“Don’t worry, Addie,” Scott said, patting her arm gently. “If you get in an accident, the ambulance will take us to the hospital anyway!”

 

Stiles brightened. “And Dad will probably come and direct traffic, so we won’t have to worry about anyone calling him!”

 

Addie whimpered, knuckles going white as she gripped the steering wheel again.

 

.-.-.-.

 

Mrs. Anderson and Jim met them at the hospital. Addie was wringing her hands and pacing, but she was also throwing ideas at Stiles and Scott for the story she’d started writing. Mostly the boys just wanted to have super awesome characters based on them, but Stiles also had serious feelings on dinosaurs and why they should exist in Addie’s story. Scott was fine with regular animals but if he could have a pet triceratops in the story that would be great too.

 

“For the last time, I’ll think about it, but I doubt there will be any dinosaurs to speak of,” Addie sighed, digging her hands into her hair. “I _was_ asking about whether I should stick to traditional vampires or whether I should put my own spin on—Grandma! Grandpa!” She rushed over to hug her grandmother, then turned and hugged her grandfather too. “I didn’t know if they’d gotten hold of you at the doctor’s office or not.”

 

Mrs. Anderson patted her back. “Of course they did, dear. Hello, boys. How are you?”

 

“Addie only almost crashed the car once!” Stiles told her cheerfully.

 

Addie sighed loudly. “The jeep is a stick shift.”

 

“We’ll have to get you some lessons in case you need to drive someone again,” Jim said, patting the teen’s hand, and let her wheel him over to the chairs where the boys were sitting. He raised his eyebrows when he saw they didn’t have any of their books or hand-held games. “I guess it happened so quickly that you couldn’t grab anything to keep you occupied.”

 

“Well, Mom told us to get in the car, so we went and did it,” Stiles replied, shrugging.

 

Scott beamed up at them. “Mom said she’d get us some paper to draw on though.”

 

“I see.” Jim settled more firmly in his wheelchair and sighed. “I don’t suppose you three had snacks.”

 

“Addie brought us cinnamon donuts from Salvador’s!” Scott answered with a grin.

 

Mrs. Anderson laughed. “Oh? And where are ours?”

 

Addie’s face crumpled a little. “Oh. I dropped them on the floor when I went to help Mrs. Stilinski.” She gripped her hands into fists and tucked them under her chin nervously. “I didn’t even grab my license before we left.”

 

Her grandmother frowned and pulled her into a hug. “Oh, honey, we don’t mind. And the police wouldn’t arrest you for that, you _know_ that.”

 

“Yeah, but… I didn’t even bring my notebook to write down all of our ideas,” she whispered, frowning, and looked at the boys shyly.

 

Stiles began kicking his feet. “That’s okay. We’ll tell you our ideas again tomorrow. We always do.”

 

“I guess so.” She took a deep breath, shoulders shaking a little as she exhaled again, then sat down beside them, suddenly looking much older and much more tired. She leaned her elbows on her knees and rested her face in her hands for a moment before rubbing her eyes and looking up at the clock.

 

“You look like you could use something to occupy your hands,” Jim said, taking his wheels in hand. “Come on, Gloria. We’ll be right back, kids.”

 

“Why do I have to come?” Mrs. Anderson asked, raising an eyebrow, but followed him nonetheless. “Don’t move, children.”

 

Addie let her eyes drift closed again. “I’m too tired to move.”

 

“Do you want me to rub your feet? Sometimes I rub my mom’s feet,” Scott offered.

 

She huffed. “You know how ticklish I am, Scott. I would hate to kick you in the face.”

 

Stiles turned toward his friend and grinned. “You could rub _my_ feet.”

 

“Your feet are gross,” the other boy told him matter-of-factly. “No thanks.”

 

The taller boy sniffed and raised his nose in the air. “Plebeian.”

 

Addie blinked at him. “Where did you learn that word?”

 

Stiles grinned up at her. “I read it in a book and looked it up. Good word, huh?”

 

“You’re _so. Weird,_ ” she stated emphatically, sinking in her seat again.

 

“…Addie?” Scott scooted forward in his seat. “Are you going to make the girl characters like the characters in those books you read to us?”

 

“…I’m going to write the girl characters like people,” she answered. “They’ll all be different and that will make them good.”

 

Stiles frowned. “Are vampires considered people, though?”

 

Addie sat up straight. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

 

“Because they’re _dead._ ”

 

She let out a startled bark of laughter and covered her mouth, blushing, when one of the nurses turned to look at them. “I mean they’ll be people as much as they can be.”

 

“If you say so,” Stiles replied, brightening when he saw a familiar figure rushing down the hall. “Dad!” He hopped out of his seat and ran to meet him, hugging him tightly.

 

“Stiles, wha—Hi, son.” Ivan ran his hand through his son’s hair and sighed. “What happened?”

 

Stiles’s smile fell. “We came home, and Mom was home, and we found her in the bathroom, and she was bleeding from her mouth.”

 

“Yeah?” Ivan knelt and lifted his son up, carrying him over to the nurses’ station after giving Scott and Addie a quick wave.

 

Scott moved over to sit in Stiles’s seat next to her, taking her hand. “Is everything going to be okay, Addie? Mom said she’d be right back, but that was a while ago.”

 

She didn’t want to lie, but it wasn’t her place to tell him the truth, either, she thought, watching as one of the nurses led Ivan and Stiles into Claudia’s room. “Maybe she got sidetracked by one of the doctors. You know some of them would be completely lost without her.”

 

He hummed thoughtfully, remembering all the times his mom had come home ranting about how stupid the doctors were some days. “Yeah, that’s true.”

 

“Oh, did Ivan get here? Good,” Mrs. Anderson said, pushing Jim in front of her as they returned. “We’ll stay a little while to make sure things are okay.”

 

“Just enough time to teach you how to cast on and knit!” Jim said cheerfully, holding up several large knitting needles and some hanks of thick yarn.

 

Scott frowned. “But knitting is for old people.”

 

Jim shrugged. “I learned how to knit when I was in the hospital after my legs were blown off. Helped me stay sane while I was stuck in bed. I wasn’t old then. You want to learn or not?”

 

“I’ll give it a shot,” Addie said, because the alternative was staring at the clock, and she’d already done that for much too long. She reached out for a pair of needles and a ball of yarn. “Come on, Scott. It’ll be a handmade gift for your mom for Christmas. You said she loves those.”

 

Scott hesitantly reached out for his own needles. “Yeah, I guess so.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “Listen, you only have to do it until your mom comes back with some paper for you to draw on, okay?”

 

“Okay,” he mumbled petulantly, watching as Jim threaded several stitches onto his needles.

 

.-.-.-.

 

“Oh my gosh this is hideous.”

 

Scott turned to look at her scarf and grimaced when he saw the holes in it. “Well I mean. It’s a pretty color?”

 

“It’s _turquoise,_ ” Addie told him, appalled enough for the both of them. “I thought it was just _green._ ”

 

“Turquoise is a nice color.”

 

“ _No one_ looks good in turquoise!”

 

Mrs. Anderson looked up from her crossword puzzle. “It’s true. There are a select few who look good in turquoise and even _they_ have the good sense not to wear it.”

 

Scott laughed. “So who are you making it for?”

 

Addie frowned. “…I wouldn’t even give this to a homeless person.”

 

“A homeless person wouldn’t want it,” Mrs. Anderson told her.

 

Addie glared at her petulantly. “Maybe I’ll give it to _you_ for Christmas.”

 

“Don’t be silly, dear. I’m allergic to wool.”

 

Scott watched as the teenager let out a noise of frustration and clenched the length of scarf in white knuckles. “My mom would probably wear it.”

 

Addie looked at him in surprise, then smiled and patted his hand. “Thanks, Finn, but I would never do that to her.”

 

“You’re really weird,” Scott told her frankly. “But I like you anyway.”

 

“Aw, sweetheart!” she cooed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and giving him a quick squeeze. “Right back atcha!” Scott poked her in the side with his free needle. She let out a startled squeak, then began tickling him. “Tickle monster tickle monster tickle monster!”

 

“ _Aaahhhh!_ Addie no stop don’t!” Scott squealed and wriggled out of her arms, laughing a little as he slid onto the linoleum.

 

“Well don’t poke me then, you big baby,” she ordered, patting him on the head, grinning. “I’m bigger than you so I’ll always be stronger.”

 

Scott scowled. “One day I’m going to be bigger than you and I’m going to tickle you _all the time!_ ”

 

Addie raised her eyebrows, then leaned down to kiss him on the forehead, looking a little sad. “I’ll look forward to it, then.”

 

The younger boy frowned as she leaned back, and he was going to ask why she looked sad, really, but then his mom came by and told him that they needed to talk. He’d ask her later, he decided, waving as his mom carried him toward the break room.

 

And then he heard what was wrong with Stiles’s mom and he never got the chance.

 

.-.-.-.

 

_Later, Stiles learned that his mom had been sick for a long time. It was why sometimes she was so tired, why she took naps, why Addie sometimes kept them at her house instead of taking them to Stiles’s house like she always did. It was why his dad worked longer hours, to earn more for her hospital bills. It was why Mrs. Anderson and Grandpa Jim took them out so often for dinner or other outings._

_Later, Stiles heard that Addie came and visited his mother on her own, and for a time, he was jealous that she could spare the time to visit more than he could. Then Mrs. Anderson gently reminded him that Addie’s mother was out of the picture, and Melissa and his mom were the closest she’d had to one in her most important years—puberty, boys, looking at colleges. Mrs. Anderson could help with those things, but times had changed— **information** had changed—and it had been Claudia and Melissa that Addie had turned to with her questions._

_Later, Stiles learned that his mom might have beaten the cancer, if it hadn’t spread. It started eating away at her stomach and no amount of surgery could get it out. Addie and Scott would sit with him in his mom’s room while she rested, not saying anything, and he’d appreciate it. Addie started knitting furiously because she didn’t want to bring her writing notebook in and she started making **beautiful** things that she let his mom have first pick of, though she always wore the turquoise scarf the most._

_And later, Stiles started reading all about cancer, and he realized something that all of the adults around him were trying to tip-toe around, trying to keep from him. His mom would probably die. She was fighting so hard, struggling through each day, but she was probably going to die, and as each week passed, Stiles couldn’t help but hope that she would, because no one should be in that much pain. And it made him feel awful, because no one should want their own mother to die._

**Author's Note:**

> Did anyone else get super emotional with that last line? Because I sure did!  
> There was so much more I wanted to put in here (the Hale fire, Stiles's obsession with Lydia, more about Addie's family) but I just couldn't make it fit. Maybe I'll add bits and pieces into the following stories, but who knows? I kind of missed my place for Hale Fire feels at this point in this series. :P


End file.
